


Anything

by quaffanddoff



Category: Whose Line Is It Anyway? RPF
Genre: First Time, Fluff, Improv, Kissing, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-20
Updated: 2020-12-20
Packaged: 2021-03-10 18:40:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 700
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28191825
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/quaffanddoff/pseuds/quaffanddoff
Summary: Colin wishes real life were more like improv. Ryan believes it could be.
Relationships: Colin Mochrie/Ryan Stiles
Comments: 4
Kudos: 13





	Anything

“…Oh dear God,” Colin groaned, burying his face in his palms. “Did I seriously say that?”

“No, you didn’t say that. You _screamed_ it,” Ryan amended.

“Who allows me to go on stage in front of all those people and do these ridiculous things?” Colin wondered, his distraught voice muffled by his hands. “Why doesn’t anyone step in and stop me from humiliating myself?”

“Because it’s funny to watch,” Ryan said, shrugging. 

Tonight’s show had been a hit, fun and exceptionally rowdy. Now they were alone backstage, lingering a little longer in order to delay their evitable return to reality. The studio-provided wardrobe had been exchanged for regular clothes, the stage makeup had been scrubbed off, the audience noise had subsided, and the adrenaline was slowly ebbing from their systems. This was always the part of the evening where parts of their outrageous antics finally started to register and the cringing began. Colin, the main culprit of that extra rowdiness, was being hit especially hard tonight.

“When I’m on stage it’s like I just black out and someone who's not me takes over my body. And then afterward, I have total amnesia for everything that happened. I seriously think it could be an indication of a severe psychological disorder.”

“Or an indication that you’re desperate for attention and willing to do anything to get it.” 

“Same difference.” Colin finally looked up from his hands. He still looked embarrassed, yet he couldn’t help but grin. “That’s the great thing about improv, though, isn’t it? Everything you make up exists for one glorious moment, then vanishes forever.”

“Unless you’re filming it for national television,” Ryan pointed out.

“Well, yes,” Colin conceded. “That’s why it’s better live in a normal theater: no recording, no commercial breaks, no mics, no cameras, no TV execs, no censorship. Just pure spontaneity.”

“It’s exhilarating,” Ryan agreed. “Feels like anything is possible.”

“Wouldn’t it be nice if the real world were like that?”

“What do you mean?”

Colin looked thoughtful. “Sometimes it feels like everything is so…heavy. So important. So permanent. You know? Sometimes I wish I could just…do whatever I want without worrying so much about all the repercussions.”

“What would you do? Like, rob a bank or something?”

“I…” Colin trailed off. He waved his hands vaguely, trying to express through gesture the ideas that he couldn’t articulate with words. “I don’t even know. I would just…say all the things I’m too careful to say. Do all the things I’m too scared to do. Be that guy I always wanted to be.” 

Ryan was quiet for a few moments. “What if you could do all that?” he said finally.

“I can’t.”

“But what if you could?”

“Well, it would be great if I could. But I can’t.”

“So let’s pretend that you can. Right here, right now, just the two of us. Just do whatever you want to do, be whoever you want to be. And then we’ll agree to forget all about it and never mention it again.”

“That’s just silly,” Colin scoffed.

Ryan didn't relent. “That’s the point: be silly. Be ridiculous. Be unexpected. Be anything you want.”

“Anything?”

“Anything.”

“And it won’t count? No consequences? We’ll just go on like it never happened?”

“Like it never happened.”

“Okay,” Colin said cautiously, but with gradually mounting enthusiasm. “Okay, sure. Why not. Let’s try it.”

“Okay! So…what are you gonna do first?” Ryan asked.

Colin contemplated his friend for a moment. The answer was right there in his head; he realized he had, in fact, known it all along. He angled his body toward Ryan and licked his lips. Reflexively, Ryan did the same, feeling suddenly much more nervous than he usually would at the start of a scene. Colin stepped forward and his hand drifted up to brush Ryan’s cheek.

Ryan’s hands raised automatically, ready to deflect, but then he remembered: go with the suggestion. _Anything._

His defensive hands relaxed and landed instead upon Colin’s waist, holding him there lightly but securely. Colin’s arms wound their way behind Ryan’s neck, pulling him closer. Their heads tilted and they leaned in, setting the stage, opening the scene, letting the improvisation begin.


End file.
